Let’s Talk Marketers Delight 2

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog. You may not have heard from me since I told you about my plans with Kolakube last month. But listen, nothing is different. I have been working as hard as ever on the theme that is going to change Kolakube’s business model, and of course — your blog, ever since.

Let’s talk a little about what Marketers Delight 2 is going to be, and more importantly: what it will not be.

It’s Been A Long Time Coming

Marketers Delight was released as a debut theme on Kolakube last year. Since then, it’s been updated around 5 times — only once was there considered to be a “major update.”

Let me tell you, a lot of things have changed since the day I opened the doors to Kolakube back on January 1st. I, as a theme developer, designer and thinker have changed so much since then.

From working with a variety of clients over the past year, and designing my new blog — Life Notion I’ve of course learned how to create better looking and coded themes.

But the most valuable lesson I learned that I really didn’t know too much about when starting Kolakube was this:

How important it is to cater a theme to a specific website.

In other words: the idea that any theme you install onto your website should fit the specific needs of you.

Your site should not work for your theme. Your theme should work for your site.

Why Most Premium Themes (Including Mine) Fail

I feel like people who are searching the market for premium themes have it extremely rough.

Sure, there are a lot of themes out there that look great. I find that, in terms of design only, it’s not hard to find a theme you like.

The overall look of a theme gets too much attention. Make a theme as pretty as you want, but if you forget to factor in the most crucial element of it, then your theme will fail.

Of course, that is how it’s made.

The code

How the options work

How it works with WordPress

Documentation + Support

Code that doesn’t have to be used shouldn’t be loaded, markup should be clean and easy to understand, and everything should work as one complete solution.

I’ve tried plenty of premium themes from different places around the web. Mainly, Theme Forest. And I didn’t like what I saw.

650,000 color schemes!

Selectable background patterns by the sh*tload!

Content sliders everywhere!!11!1!

jQuery effects that will make your eyes bleed!

I can’t believe people try to sell their themes based on crap like this. And these are only a few examples. It’s like the mindset is to jack up a theme up with as much garbage and features as possible and provide thousands of confusing options to top it all off.

Listen, don’t get me wrong here — creating themes that are easy to customize are ideal. These options that many people design, they definitely get plenty of things right.

But it’s important to understand: doing too much is wrong.

What I Want to Accomplish With Marketers Delight 2

Through my theme work at Life Notion and client projects, I learned a lot about how to build good WordPress themes for one person. Now, I want to apply that knowledge into a theme that many people will use, yet can act as something that was created just for you.

I want to incorporate my own design style into the theme, and what my vision of a smart theme that has simple functionality is. I’ve been working pretty hard on implementing my best ideas and code practices into Marketers Delight 2, and I cannot wait to share it with you when it’s ready.

There’s not much I can reveal now (as much as it pains me to stay quiet), but you should know that it is going to be a huge upgrade that is light years away from Marketers Delight 1 in terms of style, functionality and how it can personally help you.

Thesis 2.0

Like always, I am building a child theme on top of Thesis. Thesis is, without a doubt, the smartest theme on the market and completely sets the standard for what a WordPress theme should be.

Since it’s a framework, it only does about half the job. You need a great design on top of it that works with the features of Thesis, and that’s what Marketers Delight 2 will be.

Due to the impending release of Thesis 2.0 (I’ve heard pretty reliable rumors around the web it’s coming soon. By that, I mean from Chris Pearson’s Twitter account. Which technically makes it not a rumor, but I feel like I’m rambling…you know what I mean), I can’t be sure of how it will impact the release time of this child theme.

If it’s done weeks or a month before Thesis 2.0 is to be released, then I would consider releasing it then. If Thesis 2.0 is released during development, it could throw the time off. I can’t be sure of how long, so I can’t be sure of an exact release date for this theme.

If the first scenario plays out, I want Marketers Delight 2 out sometime early to mid January. If not, then… we’ll see.

There’s Also Genesis

I’ve been learning how to use the Genesis framework from StudioPress over the past few weeks, and I am pretty impressed with it. I just had to see what all the fuss was about, and I’m glad I did. Genesis is another great platform to work off of, and I definitely like it (but still believe Thesis is the superior choice).

That’s why I want to make Marketers Delight 2 (and my future themes) compatible with Genesis as well. I would love to write more about why I’m deciding to support Genesis as well, but I will certainly save that for another article.

Stay Updated About Marketers Delight 2

I love to keep people in the loop about the work I am doing, so if you want to stay updated about Marketers Delight 2, you should consider doing the following:

Once I reach a certain point in its development, I’m going to start tweeting out screenshots of it like crazy. And my email subscribers are always the first to know of new theme releases (and sometimes get discounts ;-)). Just something to consider.

Questions, Concerns, Complaints…

Kolakube is not where I want it. At all.

I have so much work to do to create the community I want around here and create themes that will change the course of your business and website. I can’t tell you how excited I am for the future of this site.

If you have any questions, concerns or any comments related to Marketers Delight 2, ask away in the comments section below. I’ll respond back with as much information as I can.

I’m really interested in what Marketer’s Delight 2 will have to offer. When you suggested on Twitter that I get the first version, I already had Nexis sitting on my computer unused. So, I figured I would go ahead and toss it on my personal blog and put it to good use before getting another theme. I’m going to watch out for MD2… I might be able to out it to good use too.

And I agree about the thousands of themes out there. Because I understand the power of the frameworks, particularly Thesis, I passed on SO many gorgeous themes to stick with Thesis. I’m just glad there are people like you dedicated to making beautiful themes to lay over Thesis.

I also purchased Genesis and a few child themes some months ago. I like it but yes… Thesis is a little better. I found myself wasting time trying to master Genesis when I already knew Thesis. Of course, it’s different for you as a developer and designer. But for me, Thesis does the job best and I’ve already spent a couple of years learning it.

I myself as a non-tech experts love Genesis as it seems reduce time for me like auto thumbnail and many other widgets ready and huge amount of child themes of less than $25 🙂 Expecting to see your new child themes for Genesis

Sounds like you have some exciting things coming soon Alex. I have no doubt that whatever you put out will be quality stuff.

I’m also a big Thesis user and I bought that one because I thought it would be easier to learn. It’s even simpler now with all their recent updates. When I wanted to know how to change something I just went to Google and asked my question. I found how to do what I wanted pretty darn quick. They just walked me through it and what a lifesaver for me.

I wish I had the talent to build themes so I do admire that. I’m sure to you it’s nothing but to someone who has no clue, it’s so amazing.

Will look forward to seeing the changes. Until then, hope all is going well with you.